Why working harder won’t make you rich – and what to do instead

November 3, 2026 — 2:45pm

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“What do they know that I don’t?” This is an unspoken question I often hear in conversations with people who are working to better their financial positions.

There is a curiosity about how people who are further ahead got there. What do they know? What did they do? Did they just get lucky? Sometimes, yes. But often, I find there are some fundamental differences in how people who are good at building (and keeping) wealth think about money compared with those who struggle. Here are some of those core differences:

More leverage, not more effort

You might have heard people talk about “leverage” in the context of property – that is, one of the major benefits of property over shares is that you can use leverage (borrow money from a bank). I’m talking about it in a bigger context though – not just loans.

So, what is leverage? In a sense, it’s anything – a tool, device, system – that can help you get more results (outputs) with less effort (inputs). If you lift a suitcase, it’s heavy. But put some wheels on it – and suddenly, it moves easily. The wheels give you leverage.

In a financial sense, there are many forms of leverage........

© The Sydney Morning Herald